Phantasy Star IV was a game far ahead of its time and was, sadly, the last "classic" Phantasy Star title. Originally released in Japan at the end of 1993, it was one of the first truly cinematic games, achieving this through a series of comic book-like scenes, gripping music, and worthwhile characters. Combat was also well ahead of its time, with combination attacks, quick battles, and most importantly, combat macros. Allowing players to set up more than 10 sets of commands, this made standard battles even speedier without sacrificing any of your party members – something that modern games like Persona's auto-battle option does. That's not to say that Phantasy Star IV is without faults, but when the biggest faults you can think of about a game almost two decades old is that, "the inventory system is a little awkward," you know that the developers made a world-class game. Phantasy Star IV is a masterpiece that can compete with the best JRPGs of today.